For a day of ceremony, a lot happened today. Not unexpectedly, I might add. What struck me most was all the pardons and commutations. First Biden gave preemptive pardons to members of his family, Fauci and the entire J6 investigative committee. He doesn’t trust the Trump administration. He also commuted the sentence of Leonard Peltier. I’m all for that one.
And late tonight Trump finally revealed the full extent of his pardons and commutations of the J6 defendants. He commuted the sentences of those charged with seditious conspiracy and pardoned all others charged with crimes associated with J6 including those convicted of assaulting police officers. Given the time he spent talking about J6 in his second speech of the day. That one wasn’t scripted and it was full of grievance.
TTG
This is certainly interesting:
“Trump takes aim at dozens of high-ranking former intel officials
President issues an executive order to revoke clearances from former agency heads.”
https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2025/01/20/donald-trump-inauguration-day-news-updates-analysis/trumps-revenge-on-intel-officials-00199589
Keith Harbaugh,
Sure it was done primarily out of vengeance, but those people don’t need those security clearances. Trump wants to start at year zero so he doesn’t need any of their knowledge/expertise from the past… or their old biases.
TTG,
Vengeance? Don’t let your bias get the best of you.
Fred,
Trump has repeatedly expressed his desire for vengeance. At least he kept those desires out of his scripted inauguration speech.
Fred, These are the words of someone seeking vengeance:
I would have every right to go after them”.
Plainly spoken. If you can’t see that, we can clearly see your heavy bias.
Al, TTG,
The 51 intel agents were not opponents, just ‘useful idiots’. The members of the House Committee I’m sure violated a law or two in destroying all their records. They were engaging in a political show trial. Most of them no longer have political careers. It will all come out, it always does.
Clapper and Hayden’s actions in knowingly using false information to undermine the sitting president was criminal conduct.
Sundance provides useful information on the executive order,
including an alphabetical list of its 50 targets (with photos where available),
and a good part of the order itself.
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2025/01/21/president-trump-signs-executive-order-revoking-security-clearances-for-u-s-intelligence-officials-involved-in-election-russian-disinformation/
My criticism of Sundance is that he vastly exaggerates the ability of the IC to control the big picture in America, the shape and development of American society.
Huge and important sectors of American society cannot plausibly be claimed to be under the control of the IC.
Several examples:
1. The education sector, both at the university level and K-12 level.
2. The medical profession, which has worked so hard to support and promote transgenderism.
3. The media.
4. The cultural establishment, from Hollywood to the intellectuals.
Each of those sectors is far more influenced by the Jewish community than by the IC.
(As one example, consider the columnists at WP.)
Yet that is something Sundance consistently ignores,
while he exaggerates the ability of IC to control what people think and do.
Another problem with Sundance is his emphasis on financial motivations,
via his catchphrase “There are trillions at stake.”
His economic determinism is an echo of Karl Marx.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_determinism
It ignores the interests of ethnic groups.
I had thought that giving clearance to high-ranking past officials was actually a way to maintain our national security. The POTUS and his team would get seasoned viewpoints and responses that they could then take into account. It doesn’t have to be very far down the chain, but having those folks seeing and adding their intelligence evaluations seems like a good idea.
I’m sure Trump doesn’t want those opinions, however. I would wish that he were more open to dissent…sometimes you get better outcomes that way.
Laura,
It’s a way for those people to get high paid consulting gigs.
And on unrelated news, except that the timing ensures that it gets buried and quickly forgotten, we have this new gem from the Washington Post:
“Ruptures of undersea cables that have rattled European security officials in recent months were likely the result of maritime accidents rather than Russian sabotage, according to several U.S. and European intelligence officials.”
“But so far, officials said, investigations involving the United States and a half-dozen European security services have turned up no indication that commercial ships suspected of dragging anchors across seabed systems did so intentionally or at the direction of Moscow.”
“Instead, U.S. and European officials said that the evidence gathered to date — including intercepted communications and other classified intelligence — points to accidents caused by inexperienced crews serving aboard poorly maintained vessels.”
Go figure, heh? I wonder if the Finns are going to release the Eagle S now, or are they just going to keep it because, you know, because.
LINK? Author of the statement?
YR….still waiting for your source
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/accidents-not-russian-sabotage-behind-undersea-cable-damage-officials-say/4BJLRFLXOBA4NG6KMAARJFPNMM/
WaPo is behind a paywall, but that’s a reprint from New Zealand.
Reading thru the article identified sources are claiming the breaks were purposely done. Nonnamed sources saying accidental.
Yeah, colour me shocked.
Shocked to my very core that the low-level apparatchiks who are mouthing the chosen narrative are willing to be identified, and stunned beyond belief that those above them are not willing to be identified when they say that the chosen narrative is a pack of cow manure.
Sticking with the chosen narrative is never going to threaten their job, Al, and if you are going to do that then you damn well do what your name out there so you can claim your doggy-treat.
But going AGAINST the chosen narrative is a dangerous thing indeed, career-wise, and so you have to be very, very, very careful about how you blow the whistle.
Someone (cough, CIA, cough) decided to blow the whistle on this. I know that for a fact, because they chose the WaPo as their conduit, and WaPo is a CIA rag.
You can take this story to the bank.
I tried to post a NZHerald reprint of the original Washington Post article (it’s paywalled) but I can’t see that listed as under moderation.
Not sure why.
Anyway, here is an archived copy of the original, so have a read for yourself:
https://archive.vn/7JcKG
Yeah, Right,
Comments remain in moderation until I wake up, have a cup of tea, read the paper, maybe take a walk and decide to open my laptop. As Colonel Lang often had to remind some impatient member of the committee, this blog is a hobby.
Oh, I understand all that. It’s just that I normally see a “you post is awaiting moderation” i.e. I see that the post has gone for review and (hopefully) approval.
These posts just seemed to disappear with no acknowledgement from your site that it had received them.
Hence my puzzelment.
Yeah, Right,
Comments sit in the cue until I or one of the other authors review it. Some I delete because I determine they add nothing, are racist/offensive or I’m just tired of beating a dead horse. Your comments sometimes fall into that last category.
TTG: “I’m just tired of beating a dead horse.”
Me two. That’s the second reply from you that didn’t address my point.
The author of the statement?
Three authors, actually:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/isaac-stanley-becker/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/by-robyn-dixon/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/greg-miller/
Seem to me to all be very credentialled journalists, but you can judge for yourself.
YR –
Washington Post? Which is owned by Jeff Bezos who was in the front row at the inauguration with the other billionaires in front of Trump’s cabinet pick. Bezos probably got the idea for that article by his fellow broligarch, Elon Musk. No way those anchor dragging cable cuts were accidents. WaPo quotes anonomous intelligence officials. They got their data wrong also: they quote four or five cable cuts but there has actually been 12 plus at least one failed attempt.
German Navy Captain says: “a ship does not drop its anchor “by mistake” and “without realising it”. And it certainly doesn’t continue on its way. The anchor of the “Eagle S” will weigh between five and ten tonnes. The chain also weighs over 100 tonnes. A weight of this magnitude is capable of holding a large ocean-going vessel at its anchorage even in a storm. Dragging this weight across the seabed over several kilometres requires considerable power from the engine, and it also makes a lot of noise and rattling. It’s a bit like a heavy lorry dragging a semi-trailer without wheels along the A7 motorway from Flensburg to Hamburg and then saying that it didn’t even notice.”
Finnish Coast Guard Commander agrees, saying: “Such a number of anchor drops and accidental dragging is completely impossible.”
Meanwhile NATO naval assets are now tailing Russia’s shadow fleet to make sure it does not happen again.
Nothing in the WaPo article suggests that any of those vessels were underway when they started dragging their anchor.
The Baltic Sea is not particularly big, and the water is quite shallow. It’s also a busy waterway.
Perfectly reasonable to accept that if a vessel finds that the port it is destined for is not ready to accept the ship that it will simply stop and drop anchor until it receives news that a berth is available.
And if the crew is inexperienced then they could drop their anchor but not lay out enough chain to keep the ship from drifting (am I the only person here who understands that it is the weight of the anchor chain that keeps a ship in place?).
Result: the ship drags its anchor.
leith: “No way those anchor dragging cable cuts were accidents.”
WaPo: “according to several US and European intelligence officials” you are talking out of ignorance.
Good for you.
WaPo: “The determination reflects an emerging consensus among U.S. and European security services, according to senior officials from three countries involved in ongoing investigations of a string of incidents in which critical seabed energy and communications lines have been severed.”
So unless Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk are “senior officials from three countries” (possible, I suppose, if Musk retains his South African passport) then I’m going to suggest that you are somewhat incorrect regarding the source of this article.
Becker, Dixon and Miller are reporting what they were told by anonymous sources. The US and European security officials cited in the WaPo article should reveal their identities and their evidence. And why didn’t WaPo interview security officials in the countries on the Baltic that are impacted by these cable cuts – Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Poland, Estonia & Lithuania? It’s either lazy journalism in the best case, or worse WaPo is being gaslighted.
Even Russian Duma member, Alexander Kazakov, and Foreign Ministry official, Andrey Fedorov, admit on NTV (Cyrillic HTB) that Russia deliberately cut those cables.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQATDINMI-M
Eagle S was observed underway dragging her anchor for more than 50 kilometers. She was not at anchor as you attempt to portray. Finland is prosecuting some of the crewmembers for gross sabotage. Cable companies have put a lien on the ship and its cargo to help pay tens of millions of Euros.
“Becker, Dixon and Miller are reporting what they were told by anonymous sources.”
The sources are not anonymous to the journalists, only to you and I.
And, yes, that’s what “reporting” is. Do you really expect those journalists to hire the SS Andromeda and go scuba diving over the site?
“The US and European security officials cited in the WaPo article should reveal their identities and their evidence.”
You’re new here, are you? What happened to the previous leith?
New leith: “And why didn’t WaPo interview security officials in the countries on the Baltic that are impacted by these cable cuts – Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Poland, Estonia & Lithuania? ”
And you know that they did not seek comment from those countries….. how, exactly?
I find it very difficult to believe that the “half-dozen European security services” that ARE carrying out the grunt-work of investigating those cases will talk to the WaPo, on or off the record.
But I don’t have much difficulty believing that the intel agencies that they are reporting to have gone “Oh, shit, we were wrong” and decided to start leaking like a sieve to get ahead of the news.
I’m very bemused by your comments, New Leith, since they indicate a rather touching naivety – or, maybe, an attempt to pretend you are naive.
Those Baltic states are doing the investigating, but they are reporting up the NATO chain of command. It’s at that higher level that the WaPo is being briefed on the QT.
Seems logical to me. After all, the WaPo is the CIA’s pet project, and Bezos only bought it so that the CIA can use its journalists as their shills.
Well, you are now seeing that money being put to good use.
New leith: “And why didn’t WaPo interview security officials in the countries on the Baltic that are impacted by these cable cuts”
WaPo: “A spokeswoman for Finland’s National Bureau of Investigation, which is leading the investigation of the Eagle S, said the bureau’s probe is “still open, and it is too early to make final conclusions of the causes or combinations behind the damages”.”
So, yeah, they did reach out to exactly the people you suggest, and got a non-response.
It appears YR only read the parts in article by unnamed sources that claimed accidental cuttings. Rather that the comments of named officials who claim cuttings were purposeful.
No, I read the entire article.
And what I read is that there are “named officials” who are sticking with the chosen narrative because, you know, it is the chosen narrative.
But three – count ’em, three – WaPo journalists have been contacted by three – count ’em, three – intelligence officials who sit at a higher rung who have gone out of their way to say that this chosen narrative is complete nonsense.
You didn’t read that?
How odd, because it is pretty obvious that’s the entire point of that WaPo article.
Al, let’s go though those “named officials”, shall we?
“German defence minister Boris Pistorius”
“Finnish President Alexander Stubb”
“Eric Ciaramella, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment”
“Pekka Toveri, who represents Finland in the European parliament ”
“Mike Plunkett, naval expert at Janes”
So three of them are politicians shooting from the hip.
The other two are, ahem, are certainly not “officials”, named or otherwise. They are pundits. Nothing more, no less.
So, basically, in terms of “officials” you have three politicians who are mouthing off on the Russians because, well, mouthing off on the Russians is what politicians do.
Meanwhile, the WaPo have “senior officials from three countries involved in ongoing investigations”.
And, yes indeed, “The US and European officials declined to elaborate and spoke on the condition of anonymity, citing the sensitivity of ongoing investigations.” but – again – I’ll point out that WaPo is going out of its way to tell us all that THESE officials ARE involved in the investigations, whereas the “named officials” that you are relying on are not involved in the investigations in any way, shape or form.
Musk gave a rather obvious Nazi salute whilst at the Presidential podium speaking, to applause from the crowd. The video is all over the net and the act is being covered around the world. There is really no saying he was simply waving to the crowd, it was obvious.
What is this guy thinking? What is wrong with him?
Stefan – googled it. This one?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMtdDm02Ce0&ab_channel=CNA
Not even close. That’s just a happy man waving his arms around. Not a failed attempt at the Hitlergruß. Are we to be forced for ever into seeing in the most ordinary gestures echoes of those disastrous twelve years so long ago?
He has reason to be happy. If the Trump reforms come off – I hope they do – he’s right in saying this is one of the most significant Presidential elections ever.
Like me, you’ve probably got a whole heap of reservations about some of the Trump policies. That’s OK, surely. We don’t all have to be clones. But the general direction is promising it must be admitted. And if, like me, you’re from outside America, what a relief that the psychos who’ve run American and thus Western foreign policy for years look like being pushed aside.
Not what the analysts say, incidentally. I’ve been looking at quite a few of them recently. Most suspect that the old ways will continue, albeit with new PR. I don’t think so and the next few months will show whether I’m a gullible fool or whether this really is a turn for the better.
So all a European can say to Americans right now is, good luck to you all!
That said with more than a touch of envy – no similar fresh start coming up for Europe, far as one can see.
Now here is someone with an upbeat view of Europe:
“Ursula von der Leyen casts Europe as an economic heavyweight
that can forge new alliances during another “America First” presidency.”
https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-donald-trump-america-we-have-other-options-ursula-von-der-leyen/
Two very different viewpoints.
All in all, an amusing report.
We shall see how things play out.
In that Davos speech UvdL states that “Putin cut us off his gas supplies”. Scholz said the same recently. Such statements are plainly inaccurate.
Scholz halted the NS2 project on February 22nd, two days before the SMO. The NSI gas supply continued after the SMO started. Russia would scarcely have insisted on payment in roubles were that not so. There was trouble with Canada refusing to release sanctioned pumps but the supply contract remained in force until the pipelines were sabotaged.
In his Carlson interview Putin stated unequivocally that the Russians were willing to supply gas through the one remaining NS2 pipeline but that the Germans refused to take the gas. The Germans also refused repair for the other pipelines that could at the time have been repaired.
Now it’s being said more and more widely in Europe that it’s the Russians refusing to supply gas. It’s no wonder that both the Russians and the Chinese no longer take the European leaders and diplomats seriously. It must be like dealing with duplicitous children who say whatever comes into their heads regardless of the facts. UvdL digs her own grave in terms of diplomatic credibility with such statements as those she made at Davos.
EO,
Although Germany stopped the NS2, it was not yet supplying any gas. Russia began throttling the gas supply to Europe a few months after the invasion.
https://www.brookings.edu/articles/europes-messy-russian-gas-divorce/
Also from Davos:
A fairly thorough, but speculative, report on
approaches to, and desires for, ending the war:
“Desperate for peace,
Ukraine embraces Trump
The Trump presidency “might not be good —
but it will be much better than under Biden,”
a former Ukrainian cabinet minister says.”
https://www.politico.eu/article/war-in-ukraine-donald-trump-volodymyr-zelenskyy-davos/
And also from Davos:
“Zelenskyy excoriates Europe in Davos speech”
https://www.politico.eu/article/volodymyr-zelenskyy-world-economic-forum-donald-trump-us-president-washington-davos-switzerland/
Sounds like von der Leyen and Zelenskyy aren’t on the same page.
Media hoax 1 of 2025 has a new victim.
What is the proper physical gesture of “my heart goes out to you?” Or is that just right wing cope? Do you have the approved list of gestures permissible for public use or are those only available after media ginned up outrage like the cultural marxists have been ginning up for years now. https://x.com/erratarob/status/756176609107783680
Fred,
I have to give Musk the benefit of the doubt that he meant that as a Roman or nazi salute. He’s a clumsy dude. I’ve seen the way he dances. But he’s editing it out of his videos.
Fred,
What is the proper physical gesture of “my heart goes out to you?”
Usually, with 1 or 2 fingers pointing to the heart, and then 1 or 2 fingers pointing outward to the crowd.
Elon Musk made a Nazi salute, twice. There was no waving at all.
TonyL,
Which law is that? CFR what? Or is that just “rules based order” nonsense?
Fred,
I have no idea what you meant. What “rules based order” has anything to do with with Nazi salute?
Fred,
In response to your question I would suggest:
(Scrolled forward to 1:30)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4wFBG0IGWs
(Which, if anybody watched that show more’n once, you too are probably a Nazi! I have it on the full authority of MSNBC.)
Likewise – the transparently obvious co-conspirators of Charles Lindbergh:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bellamy_salute
(Hoonoo my grandparents and their parents were Nazis too?)
But ending my comment in a more hopeful/optimistic manner – Trump, aside from all the nit-pickings from the usual suspects does seem to be : a doggone Miracle Worker! Witness
https://www.scribd.com/document/196035232/The-UK-Independent-reports-Snowfalls-Things-of-the-Past-Monday-March-20-2000
https://www.wesh.com/article/snowing-florida-photos-videos-2025/63495671
JK/AR,
The Bellamy salute went out of fashion when it became associated with fascists. Much like the swastika, which was a cultural symbol around the world for centuries before the Nazis appropriated it.
TTG,
Just reminding. The Buddhist symbol is not the Nazi swastika. It looks similar but the symbol is different. Nazi symbol is reverse of Swastika and in black color.
That was certainly stupid and he did it twice. As far as what is wrong with him, I am sure there is a long list. Like his BFF who thinks he can change the US Constitution with an executive order. I would also like to ask his fake Christian supporters which Ten Commandments Trump has not violated?
I have been a builder all my life, starting at age 5, and I know that demolition is easy. Building something is something else. It takes a lot of thought, attention to detail and skills. I don’t think Trump excels in any of those areas.
Stefan –
There is no doubt it was meant as a Nazi salute, even in Russia. Here is a subjective view on Elon’s ‘Heil Hitler’ gesture by a Russian propagandist:
https://bsky.app/profile/wartranslated.bsky.social/post/3lgakpyzpv222
Thanks to Dmitri at War Translated for the link.
leith,
We sure can’t have a Nazi working on military satellite launches. Better get him removed from control of SpaceX.
Fred –
And we can’t have him working on military satellite launches when he’s building Gigafactorys in mainland China.
leith,
And what other defense contractors are running factories in China? How about non-defense factories?
Fred –
No US defense contractors that I’m aware of have factories in China. If you have evidence otherwise please let the DOJ know.
As for non-defense factories, look no further than donOld. He’s been selling Trump branded made-in-China clothing, golf gear, bibles and other stuff for over a decade,
He’s on the spectrum and admitted to having Asperger Syndrome. He has given many idiosyncratic expressions in the past which is typical even for high functioning autism. He meant to express giving his heart to the crowd.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-57045770
Did the Nazi also begin the salute with hand on heart?
Because if they didn’t then that wasn’t a Nazi salute, because he did it twice.
Yeah, Right,
It can be called a Roman salute and is copied by some fascists representing “from the heart to the sun” I don’t think the nazis incorporated the hand over the heart part. In any case, neonazis are proudly embracing Musk’s gesture as a nazi salute.
TTG,
Is Musk responsible for what neonazis do? Are you, I, or anyone here?
Fred,
Who accused Musk of being responsible for what neonazis do? He just made a gesture. Maybe he didn’t know what he was doing. Maybe he thought he was being clever or funny. Whatever he thought, he created a rallying cry for a lot of neonazis and a whole bunch of outrage. I doubt he expected that. Since then he’s tried to erase the video from his X or edit the video to remove the salute.
“In any case, neonazis are proudly embracing Musk’s gesture as a nazi salute.”
Not just them, by the look of things, because EO doesn’t strike me as a neonazi though he is insisting that Musk’s gesture was a nazi salute.
I say no, it isn’t, but then again I know for a fact that I am neither a neonazi nor an Englishman.
You, of course, will simply have to take me at my word on that….
Yeah, Right – not that it matters but EO was stating the opposite.
If you want to see the real thing, some examples here:-
https://forward.com/news/462916/nazi-collaborator-monuments-in-ukraine/
Musk’s primarily an engineer. A very fine one, they say. Doubt he’s had much time to spend on history.
If he had he’d know that the Western powers have been using neo-Nazi thugs in Ukraine since before 2014. That in order to install a proxy government that would allow the country to be used, much against the wishes of the average Ukrainian when they were allowed to vote on the matter, as a battering ram against Russia. This sort of thing:-
https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_briefs/RB10014.html
But I doubt Musk knows much about all that, nor that he’s much interested in it. His present occupation seems to be seeing how much space junk he can park above my house. And everyone else’s. And not paying any rent for the privilege.
So that’s my beef with Musk. Not all this make-believe about salutes. Though given all the fuss that’s being made – have you seen the German papers! – Elon Musk would be very well advised not to grow a moustache.
EO,
Musk has a BS in economics and a BA in physics. But he is quite intelligent, is a constant learner, is inventive and possesses a problem solving mind. Given all that, calling him an engineer is that far off the mark in my opinion. He’s also a marketing genius. He is also socially awkward and sometimes clueless in his actions. I doubt he thought through the ramifications of his salute. The question is if he now realizes the ramifications of that salute.
Ah, yes, you are correct: my apologies.
It was stefan who insisted that this was a nazi salute, not you.
My mistake.
here’s a concise review of the history & its context.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/21/elon-musk-nazi-roman-salute-difference-trump-inauguration
as we know, the dramatic use of the salute was popularized by the founder of fascism, Mussolini. if one reviews film of him in action (as I have, over the years) you will note more than just the up-stretched stiff-arm, palm-down act, but the jutting jaw & down-turned mouth grimace.
sources of behavioral cues are long standing & deeply ingrained. they are not hidden, but revealed & amplified over time by emotion. they can also be released by excitement & drug use… such as ketamine. Musk is a known user of ketamine, among other psychoactive products.
as ever… “how you act out depends upon what you believe”. Musk displays a weaker restraining feedback loop than most folk, for various understandable reasons. being the latest “richest man on Earth” is but one of a cocktail of forces that have yielded a self-truth from deep within.
Lars –
I’m betting it’s either his ketamine use that is sparking his bonkers behavior. Or maybe the Starship disaster?
Regarding the other 155th Brigade, NOT the Ukro’s 155th Mech: The Russian 155th Separate Guards Naval Infantry Brigade are chopping off heads of POWs. Putting the severed heads on pikes. They boast about it and broadcast videos of the act on social media.
https://x.com/RALee85/status/1880390657295941930
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/155th_Guards_Naval_Infantry_Brigade
https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidaxe/2024/10/14/days-after-russian-marines-murdered-nine-ukrainian-prisoners-ukrainian-paratroopers-are-looking-for-revenge-and-finding-it/
Here is a sanitized version of the video:
https://x.com/GloOouD/status/1880225010222256403
These Russki jarheads are ISIS reborn. They appear to be posting the video to scare Ukro troops into surrendering. But more likely Ukrainians facing them will now fight to the death before surrender.
It should come as no surprise that a convicted felon and rapist would pardon his fellow J6 criminals. Like Trump, these are criminals with a deep-seated hatred of America.
The truly sad part of all this is that Trump and President Musk stole this election from the real winner, President Kamala Harris
David – wasn’t Kamala Harris placed in a difficult position from the start?
She could not repudiate President Biden’s policies or criticise his record because she was Biden’s vice-President. Nor admit that Biden might not have been entirely fit during his term of office, for the same reason. In addition, I think I remember someone saying Trump had hotshot legal teams all over the place making sure the vote couldn’t be rigged.
That’s not a difficult position. It’s an impossible one. Kamala Harris did very well indeed considering those drawbacks.
EO, I agree with you. On top of that, Trump is a pathological liar with over 10,000 documented lies in his first term. It is very difficult for anyone to run against a pathological liar, because if one lies long enough, they are eventually believed.
That’s 50 lies a week, allowing 2 weeks off for Christmas and assuming a steady pace was kept throughout.
Not impressive. You’re talking to a Brexit veteran. On a good day Boris would have polished off that many before breakfast.
EO,
It’s impressive to me that Trump lies 10 times a day, on the average. That’s pathological.
Boris who? /s
Don’t want to talk about it. Absolutely don’t want to talk about it.
I’m looking forward to the day when Bidenesque tendrils of amnesia can take the rough edge off things and I also can say, “Boris who?”
You know the bastard gave our fish away? Damn. Said I didn’t want to talk about it. Scrub that last.
David,
Which court issued a judgement of conviction for rape? If you can’t point to one you should cease using the phrase.
Vice President Harris certified Trump as the winner. Stop being an election denier.
Federal Judge Lewis Kaplan ruled in August that the jury verdict showed Carroll’s rape allegation was “substantially true.”
Vice President Pence certified Biden as the winner in 2020. Stop being an election denier.
David,
“substantially true” is not a judgement of conviction. Try again. Pence sure did certify that election. Never denied that. Try again.
So unlike Trump, you agree that the election was not stolen, right?
David,
thanks for the non sequitur
It’s a simple yes or no answer.
For Eric Nehwill,
Although you wrote sometime earlier that your New year’s resolution is, if I remember, to write less, it seems that there is a chance that when you wrote that Trump would be a peacekeeper, sounds possible (he’ll have to defy the deep state, weapons lobby, the zionist lobby).
If I were American, I’d be very happy and proud with all this Trump’s first day decisions (end of woke bs, no new bureaucratic procedures,…). If the day is to be judged by the morning, looks promising.
Trump’s pardons were dated yesterday – 1/20. The lawful authority to keep a defendant in custody ended at 11:59 pm at the latest.
DC keeping them in jail is an “unlawful seizure” in violation of the 4th Amendment.
Those held are housed at DOC under a contract with the U.S. Marshal’s Service. (There is no federal government holding facility in DC. )
The U.S. Marshal for the District of Columbia is a Presidential Appointee, and the USMS is part of the Justice Department. Apparently what is happening now is the Trump DOJ has directed the USMS to go into the DOC and physically remove those J6 defendants still being held.
The Department of Corrections officials should also be removed (in handcuffs) and taken across the river to VA to be held pending a investigation into Sec. 242 violations. (East Division of VA Court so you won’t get a DC jury on this one.)
Senator Mike Lee posted on X yesterday — maybe it is time for Congress to revisit “Home Rule” in DC. I agree.
Fred,
Some of those pardoned were convicted of assault. The victims of those assaults must be notified before they are released. If it takes more than a couple of days, then there is a problem. How many exonerated prisoners are released overnight?
TTG,
The pardon terminates the judicial punishment. There’s no constitutional clause saying a pardon is only valid after someone else, ie a victim of assault, gets official notice. A lot of folks believing what you say are going to 1. get fire. 2. get sued. They can claim the now pardoned person needs to remain in jail until they receive “official notice”. Good luck to them with keeping their job and their money with that line of defense.
Fred,
Peltier’s sentence was commuted hours before the J6 crowd, but he won’t be out of prison until 18 February.
TTG,
That commutation was by Biden. Did you forget that already?
Fred,
It was still a legitimate Presidential commutation, just like the J6 crowd.
TTG,
I did not dispute it. There’s no legal reason for that detention unless this is another conviction not covered by the pardon.
The pardoning this cycle on both ends is concerning. Things have escalated. Hopefully it simmers down but if it doesn’t this is how things go from a Republic to Democracy to Tyranny then back to a Republic. Plato laid all this out many moons ago.
The first order of business is to cease calling the US a democracy. It is not. It is a Republic. There is no threat to “our democracy”. Only a threat to the Republic. Unfortunately the media and most of the general public didn’t retain much of high school civics. It’s probably not even taught in school anymore. A democracy is a failing Republic. Simple as. No way around it.
Our elections are complicated but judges don’t make election laws. The Republic clearly states representatives make those laws. That law was broken. Even Morning Joe admitted it on his show but it was barely audible. The breaking of that one law set things in motion. What other laws can be broken once you get away with it? How about unlawful censorship. Yep. That happened. How about unlawful medical laws not backed by any science like the distancing and masks. That also happened. This all let to J6. It was a series of laws being broken. It will happen again if it’s not dealt with just like Plato explained.
babelthuap,
“unlawful medical laws not backed by any science like the distancing and masks”
There was no law about distancing and masks. It was a public health order and only mandated in Federal buildings. It always works that way in a pandemic. You can disagree with that public health order and sue the goverment. And if you say “there was no pandemic” then you’ll have to prove there were no millions death by Covid-19.
All the stores in my area had distancing rules, masks rules and rules on what businesses could remain open. None of it was backed by science. If a business refused to comply they would be fined or worse.
I read all the studies on masks. There were over a dozen of them. None of the studies claimed masks were effective at stopping a virus. Unfortunately if you posted about it you were blocked or removed from the platform like I was.
I ignored all of it until judges started making election laws out of thin air. That is when the line was crossed. It is illegal. I would have participated in J6 but I could clearly see it was going to be a ruse. There was no hope of election laws broken being addressed. It would have to wait until the next election cycle which it was and it was resolved. Fauci accepted his pardon which is an admission of guilt. We also no longer belong to the WHO which is a criminal medical cartel.
babelthuap,
You obviously didn’t read all the studies on masks and distancing. Here’s one that says masking is quite effective in lowering infection by an aerosolized virus like Covid 19.
https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2014564118
I read all 12 that I found. If masks worked they would have recommended them during flu season for the elderly at a minimum.
You and I both know the CDC never once did that. You can continue lying to yourself your entire life until you are buried in dirt like me but it will never change this fact. They do not work.
Never worked and will never work. Neither did the vaccines. I know people still getting it who got the vaccines. Nonsense. All of it total nonsense perpetrated on you and the army of gullibles.
babelthuap,
CDC guidance for influenza:
Are you this dead set against washing hands, wiping your ass or regular bathing?
TTG to babelthuap:
“Are you this dead set against washing hands, wiping your ass or regular bathing?”
“Not wiping ass or regular bathing” is a sure way to prevent contagious disease, nobody will get near you. LOL.
TTG,
“Guidance ” is the sophistry used to allow mandatory masking to take place. All involved point fingers at everyone else to avoid accountability. We had Barack’s super spreader party and Newsome’s French Laundry dinner party and people getting arrested alone on the beach. We even had the federal government change the meaning of “vaccine “.
That’s why the left lost. Enjoy the next 4 years and I hope you never suffer vax side effects like Pat did.
TonyL,
Plenty of states issued their own orders. So did many municipalities. “You can disagree with that public health order and sue the government.” Logic like that is why Trump won. Enjoy the next 4 years.
Fred,
Exactly what I meant. There was no law, just public health order by the Federal government or local government to prevent the spread of virus in a pandemic. You can disagree, but for the public health it’s the effective way to slow the pandemic until we have vaccine.
I frequently talked to my friends in Asia during the pandemic. They were quite surprised that there are people here who refused to wear mask in public. Wearing mask is a habit for people over there when they ride a motorbike, or whenever they feel not well and have to go out. In a pandemic, it’s a very effective method to prevent yourself from spreading the virus to others. They were well aware of the limitation. But everybody was wearing masks so the Covid-19 death rate was quite low for them.
“There was no law, just public health order by the Federal government or local government to prevent the spread of virus in a pandemic.”
I beg to differ:
https://www.americanprogress.org/article/tracking-enforcement-measures-violation-stay-home-orders/
https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/easing-burden-fees-and-fines-during-covid-19
True “fees” are simply results of violations of “public health orders” … but “fines” … ?
…
This is the doggonedest thing – it’s not been 96 hours since inauguration and all of us are at risk of coming unglued.
TonyL,
Erasing one’s humanity is definitely a thing in all those communist countries in Asia.
Those orders here were non existant in the US for a century. They came about to drive a conformsit narrative and remove Trump from office. Congratulations and enjoy the next four years of accountability
Fred,
My friends are Taiwaneses, Japaneses, Vietnameses, and a few relatives in Singapore. They surely were showing their humanity by protecting each others from the Covid-19 virus.
babelthuap, you wrote
“That law was broken.”
Help me out.
What law are you referring to,
and how and by whom was it broken?
And as to what Morning Joe said, if you are going to reference it, could you provide a link?
Thank you.
Article I, Section 4, Clause 1 empowers both Congress and state legislatures to regulate the times, places, and manner of holding elections for Senators and Representatives.
I don’t have a clip of what Joe said. There was a clip out there but he admitted the above clause was broken. We had judges making election laws. This is illegal. When it made it to court the courts said no standing. They said no standing because they knew it was illegal but were not going to rock the boat basically or, they didn’t want Trump having any firepower.
Judges make laws in South American countries. I don’t live in South America. Follow the law or all hell breaks loose which it did.
Another interesting development:
“Stop working for Russia, Britain tells its private spies
Security industry guns-for-hire are warned they could face jail time if they work for hostile states — even accidentally.”
https://www.politico.eu/article/russia-britain-private-spies-uk-home-office-national-security-china-russia-s/
Brings back memories of
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Steele ,
his dossier
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steele_dossier
and the firm he co-founded
Orbis Business Intelligence Ltd https://g.co/kgs/28gofpP .
Keith Harbaugh,
We have the case of a former Marine fighter pilot training Chinese pilots, although that case is somewhat murky. He claims he only trained civilian Chinese pilots.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/12/23/australia/duggan-us-fighter-pilot-extradition-intl-hnk/index.html
“America is a republic, not a democracy” so sayeth Socrates as writ by some student. a simple error in understanding American political history – revealing a shallow (or worse, biased) treatment of the fundamental distinction of structure (republic) & process (democracy). they may not teach that in home-schooled civics class anymore, but I learned it in 8th & 11th grade public school… reinforced in courses in American gov, political theory, history & philosophy back in ’70s. if one reviews the many writings of those who crafted, debated & endorsed the Constitution, it’s actually hard to miss, unless one averts their eyes.
Well, there’s one extra bonus got from the inauguration that none talk of. The risk of accidental or deliberate nuclear war is now greatly reduced. Those said to be operating the deconfliction arrangements up round Belarus can maybe, if not put their feet up, take time off for a coffee break or two.
But there’s some fiddly detail still to be looked at. Some most interesting remarks from the blogger “Simplicius”.
Simplicius does military analysis, sometimes quite detailed, and also performs a most valuable function as a site aggregator. How he gets around so many sites I can’t imagine but he picks up information from all over the place, keeping a close eye on Ukrainian and US neocon sources. Two items among a lot of other interesting bits and pieces of information;-
I. Russian force numbers at the start of the SMO. Arguing from some remarks by Zelensky Simplicius finds confirmation that Russian forces deployed for the SMO at that time were 70 – 130k. That’s in line with the figures going around at the time of 80,000.
How many of these were LDNR forces? I saw figures for those forces of 20,000, rising rapidly to some 50,000 just before the SMO.
In that connection, a brief digression.
The rapid and to an extent improvised LDNR mobilisation before the SMO fits in with the somewhat improvised and in the event incomplete evacuation of Donbass civilians from the LoC at around the time Putin crossed the Rubicon and recognised the self-declared Republics. Both those facts argue that the Russians deduced or received Intel that the risk of the Kiev forces invading the Donbass was more immediate than they had hitherto recognised.
This is important because it demolishes the generally accepted view that the SMO was a belated response to increased NATO expansion and pressure.
Just about all the experts with the exception of Baud say that but it’s a most unsatisfactory explanation for what happened on February 24th. Why would the Russians launch an invasion of Ukraine to deter NATO expansion and pressure? They’re not fools and they would have known perfectly well that invading a neighbouring country must inevitably lead to further NATO pressure – as it did. And had their aim been solely to relieve NATO pressure that aim would be more securely achieved by cutting off Europe’s supplies rather than by invasion of a neighbouring country.
The increasing NATO pressure was essential background to the events of that time but it was not the cause. That was not what stirred the Russians to action on February 21st-24th. They moved because we left them no choice. Had they not moved, the risk that the Kiev forces would invade the Donbass was too great.
The disposition of the Kiev forces, the increase in bombardment, Zelensky’s refusal to move the Kiev forces back when requested, all lead to the conclusion that the SMO was a pre-emptive attack to exclude the risk of the Kiev forces entering the Donbass. We’d poked the Bear just a little too hard and the SMO was the result.
Not a commonly accepted view, but it’s why I always term this war the FAFO war. A quite unnecessary war, plainly unwanted by the Russians, resulting from our inexpertly using the proxies for applying pressure along the LoC.
You’ll note that the neocon politicians always claim, when they speak of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, that it was “unprovoked”. That was almost their mantra in the succeeding years and we heard it non-stop. What they had in truth done was to attempt to provoke a Russian military response in order to justify demolishing the RF with heavy sanctions. The response was rather more than they’d bargained for so the FAFO war is the fairest term to use for the resultant SMO.
End of brief digression. But that’s only one conclusion to be drawn from the force numbers Simplicius considers. There’s another conclusion also not generally accepted. Those LDNR forces were not used for the incursions. They were to hold the line, not go beyond it.
It was the Russian regulars who went in further. If we subtract the number of LDNR forces from the around 80,000 Russian forces said to be deployed at that time , we are left with a very small Russian force that went into Kiev territory, facing a Kiev army many times larger, and effectively demolished that army as a coherent fighting force for good.
An extraordinary feat. How did they do it? Trukhan gives us a few hints and Chirkin one or two more but in all the vast mass of Western analysis of and comment on that early period of the SMO there is as yet no satisfactory answer. Time the Lees and Kofmans and the rest of the analysts earned their salaries, I reckon, and got to grips with the question.
2. Also confirmed by those figures is the assertion, made at the time and still made, that the Russians kept the bulk of their forces back in case of a direct NATO attack. Simplicius, and others, point out that they’re still doing it. This is not and was never a full Russian army confronting our proxies. It was a surprisingly small number actively engaged in the SMO throughout and the bulk of the Russian forces, now greatly increased and with more equipment, waiting. Just in case.
Cavoli pointed that out not long back. Our politicians and press seem to have ignored him.
That’s not, as (1) above, an historical digression. The fact that the Russians have more men and equipment than us, and those men better prepared for war, makes a farce of the talk from such as Starmer and Macron about inserting Western forces into remnant Ukraine. Those forces could never be more than tripwire forces and the new US President is most unlikely to allow the US to be drawn in to such an attempt.
Trump is making major changes to the National Security system.
This something Sundance at CTH has been advocating for quite a while.
There certainly is a correlation there, if not more.
“Realignment – NSA Mike Waltz Suspends all National Security Council Detailees Pending Review and Reapplication”
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2025/01/23/realignment-nsa-mike-waltz-suspends-all-national-security-council-detailees-pending-review-and-reapplication/
Keith Harbaugh,
Waltz strikes me as a competent professional. I’m not at all worried about changes he makes at the NSC. I’m all for further cutting the CIA’s influence on the system. What I am worried about is a move to a “red versus expert” situation where personal loyalty to Trump is more important than subject matter expertise. We could end up with a new “Office of Special Plans” on steroids like the one used to justify the Bush/Cheney plan to invade Iraq.
( … Pssst TTG, sidebar? – This is a ‘Open Thread’ right?
“We could end up with a new “Office of Special Plans” … ”
https://apnews.com/article/trump-us-drug-cartels-terrorist-organizations-8f010b9762964417039b65a10131ff64
Too TTG you’ll know our fond recall of the Good Colonel’s suggesting *we might do strikes directly? My expressing some reservations on grounds that, in seeking to end the scourge of fentanyl *we would undoubtedly get some Chinese into the blast periphery? [ I do not recall TTG, your personal enthusiasm or reluctance in the regard. ]
At any rate : ought we or, paraphrasing Fats Waller “One never knows, do one” – not we ought, cut the awfully orange Orange Man Trump at least some little degree of slack?
End sidebar. … )
JK/AR
Colonel Lang called for an intelligence finding and a silent, unacknowledged war against the cartels. I really didn’t have a problem with that kind of intelligence/SOF type operation. An open war against the cartels will bring the dirtiest kind of retaliatory strikes against US targets. We have to be prepared for that. I’m not for that kind of war. Could we win? Sure, but it will be exceedingly ugly and deadly. Getting the Chinese into the blast periphery is the least of the problems of an open war against the cartels.
TTG,
That argument sounds like the similar one Europeans used to justify paying off the Barbary Pirates for centuries. How many Americans do cartel activities kill every year as it is now?
Fred,
The Barbary Pirates never had cells operating throughout the US. Probably a good place to start our war against the cartels is to up the effort against those cartel cells in the US. I do expect that to happen in conjunction with the deportation campaign.
Fred –
US also paid tribute to the Barbary Pirates. Captain Bainbridge of USS George Washington carried tribute to the Dey of Algiers. He was then forced to “ferry the Algerian ambassador and tributary gifts to Constantinople, and that he fly the Algerian flag during the journey.”
The Dutch, the Brits, the Swedes and many other European countries never paid that tribute you claim.
TTG,
Sure. We are going to start NOT in the sancutatry countries that are safe havens but start with arrests of cartel members inside our borders and then have things go through the judicial process for the requisite amount of time. Meanwhile everyone is safe and sound in Mexico and elsewhere continuing the flow of drugs and humans that destroy the our society. Great way to run a war.
Fred,
Crush cartel infrastructure within our country and close the border, especially at the border crossing sites where most of the drugs enter the US and the Mexican cartel drug trade to the US will collapse. Of course it will move to the Canada-US border. We’ll have to control that border, too. American Sakoku.
Unless we address the cartel distribution networks within our borders, all hitting the cartels in Mexico will do is allow new cartels and cartel leaders to form to take the place of those we target.
Leith,
At one point we stopped. Then we fought a nice war with them with most of the USN.
” The two major European powers, Great Britain and France, found it expedient to encourage the Barbary States’ policy and pay tribute to them, as it allowed their merchant shipping an increased share of the Mediterranean trade, and Barbary leaders chose not to challenge the superior British or French navies.”
https://history.state.gov/milestones/1801-1829/barbary-wars#
You might want to look up Camperdown.
TTG,
Nice try but that’s not what is proposed. Regardless of that I’ll point out that Japan didn’t get invaded with drugs or illegal immigration for 250 years.
Fred –
Yes we stopped paying tribute once Jefferson kicked Adams’ conservatives out of power. But before that we not only paid tribute, but also flew a Barbary Pirate flag on the masthead of a US warship.
I’m aware of our Barbary Wars. And proud that we no longer paid extortion. Oorah for Steven Decatur and the fledgling USN. Plus there’s a Mameluke Sword on the wall of our local VFW meeting hall.
Your link implies Britain and France paid tribute but also that Barbary leaders chose not to challenge the superior British or French navies. Sounds a bit dicey, which was it?
leith and Fred,
One thing a lot of people don’t know is that the Barbary Wars was a state on state war, the US versus the Tripoli states. I find the most interesting character out of that conflict was Army Captain William Eaton, Lieutenant Presley O’Bannon’s commanding officer at Derna. In my opinion he should be the founding father of American Special Forces, learned “Indian Fighting” under Mad Anthony Wayne, raised a force of indigenous and foreign fighters to march hundreds of miles to Derna. And he had a habit of going his own way and pissing off his superiors. I recommended a good book about him last year.
https://turcopolier.com/william-eaton-and-the-battle-of-derna/
TTG –
Bad business that the Treaty of Tripoli overturned Eaton’s triumph at Derne.
Eaton was later vilified by Adams’ Federalists. The Brits apparently did not like him either.
He deserved better. The Navy did name a destroyer after him.
” What I am worried about is a move to a “red versus expert” situation where personal loyalty to Trump is more important than subject matter expertise. ”
that bird has long flown… you’ve noted the First Commandment of the Reign of Trump: ” I am the Lord Thy President of America. Thou Shalt Have No Others Before (or Near, or After) Me. ”
he’s a small man, a man of weak character.
we will watch him shrink until there’s not much left of him.
{the removal of physical security from those in his previous cabinet is another tell… he doesn’t care if they are targets for violent attack – just as he thought so little of Sen McCain, for being captured behind enemy lines while serving his country in combat. or was it something else… jealously of the brave?}
ked,
Trump had enough knives in his back from the those not loyal to the Republic, or him, last time.
“the removal of physical security” Is saving us a lot of money. None of those position would have had secret service before and they don’t rate them now. Many, like Fauci, can afford their own.
Does anyone have some good articles about this Stargate project?
Here is one I found.
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/01/22/trump-ai-plan-elon-musk-altman-slapfight-00200075
I think this would be a great topic for a top-level, standalone post.
Keith Harbaugh,
This Stargate project seems to be focused on constructing massive data centers dedicated to larger and faster AI installations. Maybe there’s more to it, but I’d have to read a lot more about it. Related to this is trump’s rescission of a Biden EO concerning the use of AI in the government. Trump left a couple of other EOs concerning AI in place. Don’t know what all this means beyond Trump wanting the US to dominate AI, throwing off any guidance on its development and letting private enterprise do it without any restrictions or guardrails. My initial take is that there will be no restrictions on collecting and using our data in developing this AI. Privacy will definitely be a thing of the past. I’ll read some more on this and may post an article on it.
@TTG
AI seem poised to bring in a lot of trouble.
There are mixed reactions, only Andrew Ng is optimistic, others well seasoned experts in the field (Yoshua Bengio, Geoffrey Hinton) warn of impending catastrophes.
https://x.com/AndrewYNg/status/1882828225979760651
A good source for various views on AI
https://x.com/tsarnick/
Hinton
https://x.com/tsarnick/status/1880484164312711410
TTG, the current AI has not much to do with the AI you are familiar with, yours was applying clever rules designed by its programmers, the current one comes up with rules of its own which its designers did not foresee.
They don’t even understand how it works, its “training” is akin to training an animal and it has a lot of autonomy, completely different beast.
China’s Ali Baba AI project will give both Musk and Altman and others a run for dominance. Ditto for other of China’s AI companies such as ByteDance, Tencent, Baidu and DeepSeek. They’ve got advantages in both language and cost:
https://x.com/TheEconomist/status/1882733169532703032
https://time.com/7204164/china-ai-advances-chips/
What’s this!
Taylor Swift’s a Nazi Too ? !!!
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJFHqhQ0qMPDk4gw78dcrtUCmXlyFxMDwJvSU5GtUeAu_UFrNgY3G5A-ySNsPSnuBmQnaW1RWj1nzguF1bnNCdfc-FhRRRvDa5fBX1a9qmhZtXI7CvDa3XuqpwyPGTbQBl9eux8q6MT08_eLM3tiNnwj9AtryHsDGM5dAmK14jD8Wwy-yF9UV0BNI2elgH/w640-h592/90miles15a18451000aeccb40bb2e8ad18b141a_d86727c6_640.jpg
But But But
I thought she endorsed Kamaloupe!
JK/AR,
That’s a manipulated photo. It’s reversed to look like a nazi salute. Musk just blew smoke up your ass. The original video shows he blowing a kiss to the audience with her left hand. The video is at the 4:20 mark showing that.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/fact-check-photo-taylor-swift-233200562.html
Here’s my source TTG, by my count #56.
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2025/01/the-week-in-pictures-100-hours-that-shook-the-world.php
Twasn’t just Musk blowing smoke it seems to me. From the bottom of that link you’ve helpfully provided, another:
“We cannot read Musk’s mind to learn precisely what he intended by it. It’s possible it was a purposeful Nazi salute; it could also have been entirely innocent. The available evidence is too scant to draw a solid conclusion.”
https://www.snopes.com/news/2025/01/20/musk-nazi-salute/
JK/AR,
You should have taken the hint from that long list of faked up memes. Or do you believe each of those memes represent unaltered reality? Did Musk mean that as a purposeful Nazi salute? As the Snopes article concluded, who knows. I think he thought he was being cute and clever. In other words, he didn’t think his actions through.
” … [F]aked up memes … ” ?
Still seeing Nazis hiding in your closets, under your bed?